After it was all over, I knew I was going to have to write about it. I don’t know why. Perhaps I like re-reading my miserable days? Maybe there’s something inside of me that feels it necessary to document these things? My therapist asked me once why I write about my problems and then keep the results? Why don’t I write about them, then throw them away? I don’t know. Maybe that’s a good idea. ...
The question was: What was something that was done to you as a child, although insignificant now, that still makes you furious? My Answer: I went to parochial school for K-12 and my childhood was filled with nuns and priests and other terrors. To this day I’ll never forgive my Kindergarten teacher Sr. Vincent. One day I complained of having a headache and asked to put my head on my desk and she refused, telling me that “Only teachers and parents get headaches.” ...
At every new job, I spend the first few weeks looking for “my” bathroom. The one that’s less popular, usually clean, and bonus points for a locking door. When I worked for the County, I found a candidate at the Data Center that checked all the boxes except for this glaring downside. I could not imagine watching myself shit. Who does this?
Occam’s Razor states that “Among competing hypotheses, the one which makes the fewest assumptions should be selected"Occam’s Razor In other words, the simplest answer is usually correct. On my way into work this morning, I stopped for gas and as I was driving in, I slowly became aware of an ominous clunking sound coming from the back of the car whenever I made a turn or went over a big bump. My first thought, of course, was that the rear axle has become separated from the car and fiery death was imminent. ...
The one where I defend Thanksgiving
The one where I lash out at “Christmas Creep”
Have you ever had a headache? Sure you have. Have you ever tried to explain the pain to someone else? Using words like “splitting”, “aching”, “throbbing” or “tumor”? Do you think they have any idea how you really feel? I had another of “my headaches” today. Woke up with it, took some aspirin, it got a little better, aspirin wore off, it came back way worse. It got so bad that I was getting nauseous and a little nervous. I’ve had bad headaches, but this was a “top-ten-ever” kinda headache, so I told my boss I was taking the rest of the afternoon off. As I packed up my stuff to come home, I told the guys in the office why I was leaving and got the impression that they really didn’t know how bad it was. Since I get these bad migraines every once in a while, this wasn’t the first time I’ve left work because of one. I was afraid of leaving the impression that I just wanted to slack off for the rest of the day, and knew that I could say the word “headache” and there would be no questions asked. ...
I like my job. Remember that. “It helps to remind those who think of programming as a “cushy job” that programmer burnout rates are high, programmer divorce rates extraordinary, programmer work hours are obscene, programmer job security is next to non-existent, programmers come home from long work weeks of programming to spend hours more in unpaid self-training to keep up with a field that abandons those who stop learning for even six months.“Found on USENET ...
Here it comes again